A social media post from a holiday company called Salty Holidays caught Wicksteed’s attention recently that showed a set of Wicksteed pedestal slide steps mysteriously appear from the ocean in Ventnor, Isle of Wight! How did they end up here when Kettering is several hundred miles away and across a stretch of the ocean? The attention-grabbing story has been featured in both the Northants Evening Telegraph and The Isle of Wight County Press. Wicksteed Playgrounds have been manufacturing playground equipment for over 100 years and based on the design of these particular steps they would have been manufactured at Wicksteeds manufacturing base here in Kettering, Northants between 1940 and 1967! Going on information from several people based within the area the steps would have formed part of a Wicksteed Slide that fell into the ocean in a landslide that happened in 1994 at Blackgang Chine. Blackgang Chine is the UK’s oldest theme park and had several pieces of Wicksteed playground equipment up until the landslide of 1994.

Dawn Giles of Salty Holidays said of the discovery: “The steps were spotted by our friend Bella whilst staying with us in Ventnor. Her brother, Samuel managed to pull them out from between the rocks and he carried them back to our garden. We could clearly read “Wicksteed Kettering” on the steps so we googled and originally thought they must be from Wicksteed Park. Our conundrum was how on earth they could get from the landlocked county of Northamptonshire, to the shores of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. We took to social media and asked our guests, many of whom are from Northamptonshire if they had any ideas what they were and how they might have ended up here.”

Slides have been a timeless playground staple for many years and for good reason! Nothing can replicate the excitement and fun of a playground slide. The designs may have changed slightly but the principle remains unchanged. Wicksteed Playgrounds prides itself on manufacturing quality playground products that are built to last and after several years in the ocean, these steps are a prime example of why Wicksteed can offer extensive guarantees on all of its playground equipment.

Learn more about Wicksteed Playgrounds visit: www.wicksteed.co.uk 

*Image courtesy of Wicksteed Playgrounds.